


interlude

by windwhisper



Series: affection without labels [3]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW Comics)
Genre: Definitely not canon compliant, F/M, Insomnia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:42:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23274952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windwhisper/pseuds/windwhisper
Summary: Somewhere between disasters, they take the time to rest. Or try to, anyway.
Relationships: Amy Rose/Sonic the Hedgehog
Series: affection without labels [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1664251
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	interlude

**Author's Note:**

> Every day I stray further from canon. But hey, as long as it's fun, right?
> 
> Because we already know IDW isn't going to cut either of them a break, and because we're living in uncertain times right now. So I hope this makes you feel better, or distracts you somehow.
> 
> Writing it was a bit of a venting process with soft, fluffy padding.
> 
> Musically I drew some inspiration from old-school Owl City, in particular Butterfly Wings for this fic, which I highly recommend you listen to. Not necessarily while reading, it's just a good song, but it probably wouldn't hurt!

Sonic is lying on the grass, held firmly but gently in place by the weight of his companion. It's not uncomfortable, exactly, though still he finds himself shifting often enough that she moves to hold him still.

"Stop that," Amy mutters softly, only half awake. She gently grips his wrist in what he's pretty sure is another attempt to keep him from moving too much, and he does his best to oblige. 

It's give and take, he reminds himself, and they've gotten this far thanks to that. They've got something good going, whatever they decide not to call it, and if letting Amy get some well-deserved sleep means staying still for a few hours, well. He's weathered worse for less.

She's tired. Exhausted, really. They both are. That's why he brought her here in the first place; so they could get some proper rest, away from all the things that held bad memories and never-ending obligations. Now, though, she's mostly asleep with his chest fur as a pillow, and he's left awake and alone with a thousand thoughts racing in his head. 

He doesn't like dwelling on the past, prefers to live in the moment and look to the future, but lately his mind hasn't seen fit to let him stop. He focuses as best he can on anything and everything else, the trees and the grass and Amy's soft breath against his fur. It grounds him a bit, at least, and it reminds him that the worst is over.

The memories that haunt him are just that - memories, fresh and faded, old and new alike, blending dreams and nightmares together. It's over, it's done, and they can't hurt him now.

Except that they can.

Because the war may be over, but the thoughts don't stop. What-if scenarios that never happened mix with his actual failures, mistakes real and imagined on an endless loop. Accidents, too, things that couldn't possibly be his fault, that he blames himself for anyway.

In his thoughts, it's Amy that takes the first hit in the abandoned base. It’s her that gets infected first, before they know what it is, before they know what it means. In his mind he watches as she tries to fight it off, and in his mind he watches as she fails. In reality, he feels her breath on his fur, soft and warmer than the air around them, and if he takes her hand and grips it tightly then no one else has to know.

(That, he thinks, is the nightmare he hates the most, just because of how  _ possible _ it is in retrospect. How easily it could have been.)

He'd hoped that being somewhere green and untouched would help him rest, but it hasn't. He closes his eyes and prays for a dreamless sleep, the closest thing to peace that he can imagine in that moment.

For now, though, Amy shifts in her sleep and mumbles a familiar phrase, one he's heard countless times before. "Sonic. Love you."

The faintest shadow of a smile crosses his face for just a moment. Some things change and others stay the same. "Yeah," he sighs quietly. "I know."

For now, at least, he can live with this. He'll keep a quiet watch and he'll keep his thoughts to himself, and in the morning everything will be alright. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this one isn't too much of a stretch, but it's pretty personal to me and my own interpretations and is probably at least 20% me projecting, so who knows?
> 
> It's also a lot shorter, so maybe I'm just self-conscious about that. I thought about pairing it with something else, but it just came out like this.
> 
> Hope you found something to enjoy here, either way.
> 
> Just for fun, some other Owl City songs I've come to associate with this series are:
> 
> I'll Meet You There  
> Captains and Cruise Ships  
> The Saltwater Room  
> If My Heart Was A House
> 
> I could go on, but I won't, because we'd be here forever. But I highly recommend them - and basically every Owl City song, actually, but those ones in particular.


End file.
